of issues with this movie. >> for a movie that wasn't even as good as the first one which makes it even more ironic. >> you're right. you're right. exactly. >> all right. we'll keep watching this one. something tells me it's going to run and run and run. nischelle turner joining us from l.a., we appreciate it. thank you so much. all right. straight to reporter roulette. we're watching syria where violence continued today despite arrival of an observer mission from the pentagon. also watching pakistan where the government has a problem with the u.s. military's version of a mistaken air strike. and wait until you see the dreadful weather about to smash into the entire east coast. we're in the cnn severe weather center for all of that. welcome to you all. first to cairo and cnn's mohammed jamjoom. the arab league fact-finding mission went to work today in

syria. tell us what you know about where they went and what they're seeing. >> reporter: isha, we heard today they went to the city of homs where we heard reports of increasing violence, deaths and injuries the past few days. there were videos purporting to show members of the arab league in homs today. one video purports to show the head of the mission being shown remnants of weapons there by residents in the city. another video purports to show the members of the delegation there with residents of homs basically saying that they wanted the members of this league to go to other parts of the city to see some of the harder hit area. in that video you hear gunfire later on. we can't verify the authenticity of these videos, but they are corroborating what we're being told on the ground by eyewitnesss. >> mohammed, you mentioned gunfire on the video. what do we know about whether these clashes quieted down or how severe clashes were today in syria? again, we need to point out, the

fact-finding mission is on the ground and according to reports there's still violence going on. >> reporter: that's right. even on the day these observers finally arrive in the city of homs where there have been so many calls for them to come, we're hearing increasing reports of violence today. there were demonstrations in homs. later in the day we heard from activists who said there were crackdowns going on at least in two parts of the city. live ammunition and teargas was being used to disperse crowds. we heard of crackdowns going on in the city of hama and several people today killed as well. it really begs the question by activists and opposition groups in syria, how effective can this mission be? the arab league delegation says they will have free access to whatever areas they want. many people there saying the arab league really not getting the unfettered access by the regime that this delegation needs to be getting. >> mohammed jamjoom joining us

from cairo, thank you. next, cnn correspondent barbara starr keeping an eye on the tested relationship between the united states and pakistan militaries. i want to focus on the deadly eyre strike that happened last month on the border in pakistan. bring us up to date. there have been some developments. >> we have been talking about this for over a month. a u.s. air strike killing some 24 pakistani troops on the border. a lot of confusion went on during this border fight. u.s. firing on pakistan, pakistan firing on the u.s. now pakistan has come out with its own version of what transpired. pakistan is adamant that the u.s. fired on them first, that their border troops were lightly armed, that they came under repeated fire, that even when they tried to rescue their own troops, that the u.s. kept firing. now a u.s. report, officially

the investigation is out and the u.s. military saying there's confusion on both sides of the border there, but also putting a lot of the blame directly on u.s. and nato commanders for some of what transpired. i just want to read you one of the conclusions the u.s. military investigator came to. he said, quote, headquarters and individuals did not respond correctly, quickly enough or with the sense of urgency or initiative required given the gravity of the situation. the u.s. military now will take a look at all this and see if any officials or troops or commanders should be held accountable. but the relationship between the two sides still one of great mistrust and no resolution really as to how this all happened, isha. >> indeed. i know in the immediate aftermath one of the border crossing areas, it was closed. what is the situation on the ground in terms of the fallout? >> by all accounts, two border

crossings between pakistan and afghanistan remain closed to nato truck traffic, supplies coming in for the war effort in afghanistan. the relationship remains frosty, to say the least. no one is disputing that. the u.s. says they've taken responsibility for their mistakes. officials saying they'd like to see pakistan do the same. also the u.s. now offering compensation funds to the families of those pakistani troops who lost their lives. isha? >> major developments there, barbara starr joining us from the pentagon. thank you. next on reporter roulette, reynolds wolf manning the scene in the severe weather center. reynolds, the entire east coast, nothing pleasant about what's going on there. >> unpleasant is the perfect way to put it. this is not armageddon taking place. but something that will affect millions of americans. a big storm system crawling its way to the eastern seaboard. we see the result on the radar. there it is plain and simple. on one side, a little red box

popping up over parts of the outer banks, that is a tornado watch that will be in effect until 7:00. the good news with this is i do see it beginning to weaken a little bit. wouldn't be surprised if the national weather service pulls that watch area. i think the threat will subside. however, if you look back towards the great lakes, you don't see the blues, the greenish on radar, you see white. that's frozen precipitation, snowfall that will pile up between cleveland and buffalo. could see four to eight inches on some of the roadways. towards pittsburgh, likelihood of one to four inches of snow. a lot of backups in new york, washington, rallied and farther down the chain. again, it's going to be something we'll see at least through the evening hours, getting better for tomorrow. however, i would expect new york, you need to keep the umbrellas handy. >> i don't want to make this all about me, but i will be in times square on saturday night with anderson cooper and kathy griffin with the crowds there

singing in the new year. please tell me the weather is going to be good that day. >> anywhere you go, it's going to be sunny, beautiful, fantastic. still a little sketchy for the time being to be honest. i'm thinking the system will be out in the atlantic. still a bit on the nippy side. it's supposed to be cold when you're in times square for new year's. >> is it? have you been in times square on new year's? >> you don't expect to be able to wear flip-flops and bermuda shorts. it's goings to be nippy. >> we'll talk about this when i come back frozen. thank you, appreciate it. in the last eight days the bodies of four women found hidden in car trunks in detroit. >> i can't tell you how to characterize it, but we're stopping short of calling this any kind of cereal pattern. >> coming up, we'll tell you about a possible connection to a website that features adults ads. plus a young girl is beaten

to death in indiana. now investigators have a break in the case. details are straight ahead. and a man finds $10,000 in cash in unmarked envelopes in the vegas airport. this hour on cnn, i'm going to talk live to the man who found the money and he returned it. ifs of sugar a day with splenda®, you'll save 100 calories a day. that could help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year. and now get even more with splenda® essentials, the only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. just another reason why you get more... when you sweeten with splenda®. ♪

[ female announcer ] you use the healing power of touch every day. the healing power of touch can be even more powerful. with precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.

i'm isha sesay in for brooke baldwin. if it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it, rapid fire. let's go. federal investigators are in florida to examine the wreckage of a helicopter crash. the mayor clinic says two of its employees, a surgeon and medical technician died in the crash. the pilot also lost his life.

the chopper was flying the medical staffers to the university of florida in gainesville to har rest organs. there's no word on what caused the crash. >> we'll look into the pilot's skills, his training, his performance. we also look into the weather. we also have radar data. the man accused of killing a 9-year-old indiana girl made his initial court appearance today. police found the body of aliahna lemmon last night, four days after she was last seen. according to court papers the man charged with her murder admits to beating the little girl to death, then dismembering her. neighbors say the man is a close family friend and was babysitting the 9-year-old and her two sisters while their mother was sick. police are not yet releasing a motive for the gifrl's killing. a california toddler somehow survived after a fall from a two-story window. san jose police say the boy's mother tossed the 22-month-old

child from the window and then jumped out herself. the boy suffered bumps and bruises. his mother was treated for broken bones in her feet. she faces attempted murder and child abuse charges. police say the woman has a history of mental illness. >> according to the family she had recently undergone some type of emotional disstress and i believe she also sought medical attention because of that. another challenge arises to the democrat's control of the senate. a democratic source is telling cnn nebraska's ben nelson is about to announce his retirement. former democratic senator bob kerry has reportedly spoken with democrats about running for the seat himself. after-christmas shopping can get a little crazy. seriously, watch what happened yesterday at the mall of america. [ screams ] >> police arrested several people after a couple of fights broke out. they say it all started in the

food court. witnesses describe the whole thing as pretty chaotic. >> i saw people running, some people staying, people confronting each other in the middle of people walking. nobody was on around. they were just going at it. >> all of a sudden stores started closing down, the gates were going up. we didn't really know what was going on. the cops were pushing us all away from nordstrom. >> it took up to 30 police officers to bring the brawl under control. the company that owns sears and kmart stars are shutting doors for goods at more than 100 locations. corporate officials blame luke warm holiday sales on top of an already difficult retail climate. no announcement yet on which stores will close or how soon. thanks to the heroics of a kansas man, two girls who fell through an icy pond are alive. bud brown happened to be looking out his window when he saw the girls fall through the ice. brown ran to the pond, jumped in and was able to pull the

children out of the freezing water. he took them to his home, wrapped them in blankets and called 911. >> it took me a little while to get to them because the ice was about one-inch thick. it seemed like it got thicker the closer i got, but just pounding, trying to break the ice. when it got deeper, i couldn't break the ice. at the time i wasn't thinking about it. i wanted to get them out of there and make sure they were okay. >> all okay, but a gruesome story to tell you about now, the bodies of four dead women are found in car trunks in detroit. check this out. there's a possible connection to a website featuring adult ads. detroit's police chief is standing by to talk to us live after this very quick break. stay with us. you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma

♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today.

internet escort ads are linked to horrific deaths in detroit. police uncovered the bodies of four women in car trunks in the past eight days. as mara mcdonald with affiliate wdiv reports, three of them advertise in the adult services section of a website. >> reporter: how strong is the link to this website? strong enough for chief ralph godbee to come out and sound the alarm. three of these four dead women advertised themselves as escorts on backpage.com. >> we felt it was imperative to alert the public that deciding to meet unknown persons via the internet can be extremely dangerous. we implore people to be careful and always let someone know exactly where they're going, who they're with. >> reporter: the first set of women were found on december 19th, dead in the trunk of a car on promenade street on detroit's east side. no obvious signs of trauma to

the bodies. a cause of death is still pending. what police really want to take a look at is the toxicology report. were these women drugged before they were killed and with what? the second set of bodies found in the trunk of a burning car around 1:00 a.m. on christmas morning. the bodies are burned beyond recognition. still the chief said they've got a tentative i.d. placing the women as 28 and 29 years old. >> our sole purpose this afternoon is for the public to be cognizant of these websites when engaged in these adult dating activities or what they refer to as escort services. we want to put the public on alert. >> we've reached out to backpage.com for comment. so far no response. i want to bring in detroit police chief ralph godbee who joins us on the phone. thanks for joining us. talk with us a little bit about how you went about connecting these women to escort ads on

backpage? >> first of all, it was great police work by our homicide detectives. my chief of homicide was apprised of the connection, we thought it very prudent for us to go public with what we know because at the end of the day, averting another young lady or two to become victims of what we believe to be homicide, i think that's the overriding concern at this point. >> indeed, keeping people safe. talk to us about the state of the victims, tell us as much as you can about the state they were found in. >> the first set of victims, they were deceased, and after doing initial autopsy, there were no outward signs of trauma, so the autopsy results are pending, and toxicology is really going to be key as the determinant towards cause of death. with the second set of women, the two women, their bodies were burned beyond recognition.

with that in mind, and then the tie to the website, obviously we are proceeding as if this is two murder scenes because the efforts to secret the bodies and hide them and in the second instance literally torching the bodies beyond recognition, obviously there's something that we can't wait for toxicology to determine it's a homicide before we complete our investigation. >> now, to pick up on what you said, you said you're considering these two murder scenes, that you're considering them at this stage the work of one suspect? >> yes, at this point we are working it as one case or one suspect or set of suspects because of the similarities, the location where the bodies were found, the proximity, the m.o., modus operandi. there are too many common links for us not to at this point work this as one single investigation. >> you talked about the

toxicology reports, results and how important they are. what kind of timeline do you have for when you'll get those results? >> we've asked for the results to be expedited. at this point i can't put a timeline on it. we do feel those results are eminent any day now. to that extent, for us to understand the cause of death, if there's similarity there, it will further enhance our theory that this is the work of the same individual or group of individuals. >> okay. again, to that end, the work of the same individual or group of individuals will have some people at home wondering whether we're talking about a serial killer or serial killers? >> a reasonable person would conclude that. we have four bodies already. when you tie it to the adult escort service as the single codifying event in both instances, it's reasonable to say that. again, i want to compliment my investigators for picking up on a pattern very early, before we

even have more bodies show up under similar circumstances. >> chief, have you reached out to backpage for their help in this investigation? >> yes, i have. spoke with my chief of detectives today. they are fully cooperating with us as far as -- we will get search warrants. we will look at things relative to ip addresses, cell phones, things of that nature to start putting this puzzle together. to date they have been cooperative. >> you said obviously as soon as you establish the connection between these victims and backpage.com, you wanted to get that information out because it's about keeping people safe. what's your view now on what should be done with sites like these that allow adult services advertising? >> you know, for me, isha, it's borderline prostitution. we can parse words and look at the legal aspects of it, and i certainly will be speaking with the state attorney general

because of my concerns real tich to the adult escort policies that are being embraced by this company. but right now that's a more strategic long-term fight we have to deal with. right now we want to get to the bottom of how these four individuals passed away and who had a hand in their demise. >> just one last before i let you go, chief godbee, i know you were able to tentatively identify some of the victims, at least two of the victims. have you been able to notify next of kin? what can you tell us about that? >> yes, the first two victims have been positively identified. family members are fully aware of the course of our investigation. the second set of victims, their families have been identified. the reason why we're saying tentative, we're watching them with physical descriptions, but obviously because of the complete devastation that the fire did to the bodies, there's further confirmatory tests that have to be done by the medical

examiner before we can conclusively say those two individuals are who we believe they are. >> okay. detroit police chief ralph godbee, appreciate your time today. thank you so much. >> thank you. we are now just one week away from the first republican primary contest. we take you live to iowa after this quick break. do stay with us. medicare. it doesn't cover everything.

and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card -- it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential...

out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. five gop presidential candidates are working iowa today. they're holding events as the state's caucuses are only one week away. jim acosta is live from des moines with america's choice 2012 politics update. jim, rick perry, newt gingrich, rick santorum, michele bachmann all participating in a town hall

tonight. no mitt romney. why not if he's there, too? >> reporter: well, isha, he has an event in davenport, iowa, on the eastern side of the state later this evening. it is curious he's not involved. mitt romney has kept his distance somewhat from social conservatives in this state, in this radio town hall that is taking place later tonight, being hosted by a prom meant social conservative in this state. that might be the reason why, isha. it's going to be interesting. there are no more debates before the iowa kuxs which is just one week from today. so this might be the closest thing we have to a debate in these remaining days. we'll hear from all of these candidates talking about issues like abortion, gay rights and if there are any slip-ups or oops moments, we'll, of course, hear about them. >> we certainly will. let me ask you this, with one week to iowa caucuses, are we seeing an upsurge in ads? i'm wondering the tenor and tone of these last couple days.

>> reporter: big time. that's right. a pro gingrich super pact has basically come out and announced it is going to start blanketing the air waves here in iowa with its own ads. you can probably bet that they might have something to do with mitt romney. the gingrich campaign has essentially all but dropped its stay positive pledge in the remaining days. that's because the former speaker has been pounded by mitt romney, as you know, in the last week or so, not only by romney himself but by a pro romney super pact. i was talking to the chairman of the iowa republican party a couple hours ago. he's amazed by just how wide open this field is at this really final stage of the campaign before the iowa kuxs. he's never seen anything like this, where you essentially have a long jam at the top, three candidates who were basically tied, ron paul, newt gingrich and mitt romney who can all win the iowa kuxs and then you have a bottom tier who also have a

decent shot if they can get a late surge at winning the caucuses. i was talking to the chair of the republican party in iowa who said he hasn't seen anything like this in a very long time, isha. >> indeed. jim acosta from des moines, iowa, always appreciate it. thank you. bofl blitzer will have newt gingrich live in "the situation room" today. you check that out. just a reminder, live coverage of the iowa caucuses begins here on cnn, next tuesday, january 3rd at 7:00 p.m.est earn. it's been one heck of a year in politics, hasn't it? coming up we'll walk you through the highlights from 2011. u'd lie to try and guess ♪ ♪ it is something very special ♪ i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] ♪ 'cause all i want this season ♪ ♪ is something from your heart

♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers. -- captions by vitac -- -- captions by vitac -- -- captions by vitac -- -- captions by vitac -- -- captions by vitac -- -- captions by vitac --

a congressman in a tiger suit. a wife allegedly flushing a bribe down the toilet. scandals, sex and the super committee. cnn's joe johns counts down the top political stories of 2011 starting with number ten. >> reporter: number ten, the hermanator. we ought to devote a whole segment to one candidate for president because he meant so much to so many. what would this election season have been without the pizza man himself, herman cain, whether it was his request for secret

service protection even before his wife found out about the alleged 13-year affair with a woman that cain denied ever having, or was it his now infamous brain freeze when talking about libya? >> i do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reasons. no, that's a different one. >> reporter: herman cain was the candidate to beat for off-beat levity on the campaign trail. suffice it to say when he finally rolled up his campaign banners and walked off into the sunset, as his last official act, he quoted pokemon if movie. >> life can be a challenge. ♪ life can be a challenge >> life can seem impossible. ♪ life can seem impossible >> it's never easy when there's so much on the line. >> reporter: number nine --

>> two women are at the door. >> don't answer it. >> i'm not. >> reporter: if they had only use add really large girdle, they might have gotten away with it. former prince george's county maryland executive jackson son and his wife lessee leigh were a power couple who got caught on the wrong side of the law. court documents said he took brooibs ranging from $400,000 to $1 million. where there's a high-level bribery, an fbi wiretap operation seems almost always not far behind. when the agents were knocking on the door, the audiotape of the moment was not pretty. >> what do you want me to do with this money? they are banging. >> put it in your panties, and walk out the house. >> i mean all this money, jack. >> put it in your panties. >> reporter: number eight, if he dressed up as an elephant or a donkey, would anyone have noticed? democratic congressman david woo got caught on camera dressed as a tiger suit.

he didn't resign his jobs until reports surfaced he had an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a longtime friend and campaign donor. number seven, after all this time they thought they were smarter than everybody else. a bill to outlaw insider trading by members of congress got on a fast track after a series of reports about how house members with special access to financial information always seemed to outperform the market on their wall street investment. number six, the lowest blood sugar of the campaign award goes to rick perry. sometimes he seemed all over the place, completely forgetting part of his stump speech in the middle of a nationally televised debate. >> and i will tell you, it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone, commerce, education and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of government i would do away with -- education, the.

>> commerce. >> commerce. and let's see -- >> oh, my. >> the third one i can't, sorry. oops. >>. >> reporter: at another time, almost too much energy. what's going on with this guy? >> this is such a cool state. i mean, come on. live free or die. you got to love that, right? i come from a state where they had this little place called the alamo and they declared victory or death. we're kind of into those slogans man. live free or die. victory or death. bring it. the ones that want to stay in the old system, pay the lawyers, pay the accountants, all that money that's gone or that, 20% flat tax put it on there, take your deductions off, send it in. today has been awesome, girl! >> reporter: into the handlers,

in endurance sports and that's what this campaign is. some brain freeze is also what you can call bonking or hitting the wall, nothing that can't be fixd with a protein bar and a banana. please, keep it on the bus for all of us. >> so what was the top political story of 2011? hint, it involves something some say is more hated than congress. joe johns finishes the countdown next.

at one point this year, there wasn't a news broadcast that didn't mention them. they make up two of the top five political stories in 2011. cnn's joe johns continues with the countdown. >> reporter: number five, somehow he completely missed that writing on the wall. when he resigned his office this year, republican senator john ensign said he was leaving the capital to save his family from embarrassment. now it seems like he got out of politics because he couldn't raise enough money to get re-elected. why couldn't reraise enough money? maybe because of his money handling skills? he got his parents to give his girlfriend and her husband a $96,000 gift, ostensibly to keep the affair quiet. number four, no, what i said was

congressman elect. democratic new york congressman anthony weiner was absolutely adamant that someone hacked his twitter account after what an inappropriate photo was sent to a college student. it was only after wolf blitzer pressed him that he started to come clean. >> you would know if this is your underpants? >> photographs can be manipulated, can be taken from one place and put in another place. photos can be doctored. i want to make sure that we know for sure what happened here. it certainly doesn't look familiar to me, but i don't want to say with certitude to you something that i don't know to be the truth. i do know some certain truths here. >> reporter: not long after that intervi interview, the truth came out. >> to be clear, the picture was of me and i sent it. >> reporter: ten days later his political career was toast. >> unfortunately the distraction i have created has made that

impossible. so today i'm announcing my resignation from congress. >> reporter: number three and no, the show can't be call real ex-wives of d.c. mikhail and tark salahi called it quits in the most embarrassing and tabloid fashion possible. they're the white house party crashers who slipped into a state dinner and rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful, including the president, setting off a security paranoia in the complex that continues to this day. the salahis broke up just a few days before a bankruptcy sale of their home in wine country when she ran off to nashville with the lead guitarist from the rock band journey. number two, it sounded like it was right out of the comic books. it turns out that wasn't too far off. a legion of super friends,

batman and robin, wonder woman and their allies, the super committee of 12 superheroes named this year to save the day on capitol hill, cut spending, make everything taste great and less filling, with the bad guys on wall street threatening to downgrade wall street's credit, the super committee was brought together to rescue us from ourselves. unfortunately it didn't work. didn't the bad guys win? that didn't they win the last time, too? number one on the list, guess who is laughing all the way to the bank this time? after nearly taking down the economy three years ago and getting massive bailouts from the federal government, the banks are now mostly back, recording record profits again. for much of this year, unemployment hovered at or near 9%. the good news is, if you work at a bank, you'll probably be just fine. >> our joe johns there. a man finds $10,000 in cold hard cash in unmarked envelopes

in the las vegas airport and then he gave the money back. he is standing by live right now for us. coming up, we're going to ask him what it feels like to find that much cash and give it back. stay with us. hello, how can i deliver world-class service for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it.

no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. time now for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me is gary shaf ski, a financial planner and president

of objectiveadvice.com. gail cunningham with the national foundation for credit counseling. thank you both for being here. gail, first question to you, this comes from julie in ohio. my son has over $100,000 in private loans from school. my husband and i are cosigners on a good portion of the loans. should we dig into our 401(k) to whittle them down. this is tough. >> it is tough. people don't understand often when they co-sign on a loan, they are equally responsible for the payments and fulfillment of that debt. all the activity is reported on both the cosigner and the primary signer's credit report. if the payments are not being made, their credit is tanking which will, of course, negatively impact their future access to credit. if they raid their retirement -- i'm not for that either. i might suggest that, if they're still contributing to their retirement plans, maybe suspend

that temporarily, temporarily is the key word until the son can get back on his feet and assume the responsibility himself. >> that's a great point. gary, your question is from bill in missouri. he writes my wrif and i each have a 401(k), is it better to combine them or keep them separate. >> an easy answer. you can't combine them. the only way for it to be combined is if it becomes an ira and it gets combined. >> thank you so much. if you have a question you want answered, send an e-mail to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

a colorado father took the ultimate test of honesty and passed with flying colors. he found $10,000 in cash and returned it. would you have done that? ripley from our denver affiliate kesa has the story. >> of all crazy things i won money in vegas that weekend. >> reporter: nobody expects to become a saint in sin city. >> i felt like i was floating on air. i felt like a million bucks. if it happened to me, i sure would want that back. >> reporter: gilbert found something at the airport before his flight home to colorado. >> two caesars palace envelopes. >> reporter: both envelopes unmarked. he opened them when he got home. >> $5,000 in each home. >> reporter: some may have thought they hit jackpot. not gill best. he called the airport in las vegas. >> i said somebody has got to be missing this. >> reporter: they would not even take his name.

>> they didn't do that. it was against the rules. >> reporter: bill gert kept calling. this is breaking the rules but you're trying to do the right thing. >> reporter: the operator said a man from el paso, texas, reported losing two envelopes full of cash. >> i knew that was the this. >> reporter: ignacio marquez won the money gambling and dropped it as he was running to catch a flight. >> cash money, very difficult to get back. >> reporter: marquez knew the odds of someone returning ten grand were pretty slim. >> i think he was pretty much in shock. i don't know if he believed it. >> reporter: even though gilbert's real estate business is slow -- >> you think about all the bills you can pay. >> reporter: -- it was never a question. >> it felt so good to get it back to the guy. >> wow. all right, the man at the center of this lost and found story joins me live from denver. mitch gilbert, thank you for joining us. i've got to ask you that question one more time. you had more time to think about

it. were you ever tempted to hold onto the cash? do you regret giving it back? >> no. i will never regret giving it back. actually, that's the question of the day, a lot of people -- i got a lot of responses. some people think i was crazy to give it back, but i had to give it back. it wasn't my money to start with, and what people don't understand is that, when i found the envelopes, these are the envelopes. >> those are the envelopes. >> and here's one of the wrappers, with the $5,000, you know, wrapped around it, you know, it was -- i did not know there was $10,000 in the envelope. at that point in time, they were just two envelopes laying there. >> let me ask you this then. you pick up these envelopes. as i understand it, you did have some sneaky suspicion that money might be in there, but you weren't certain. why not just open up the envelopes, regardless of what they contain and just hand them in to security? >> what had happened was, is

that when i saw them laying there, i went to go reach for them, and i noticed that the person in front of me was about ten feet away, and i went to grab them, and i was ready to tell the gentleman in front of me "i think you left this here" but it felt like money, i didn't know if i'd be returning it to the right person and as it turned out, he would have been the wrong person. so what had happened was, the actual envelopes themselves felt, you know, i felt like there was money in there, but i guess, i don't know if you can see, they were completely sealed, no markings, and it's just one of those things that, if it was a piece of mail, you don't open someone's mail. i didn't know -- it felt like cash but i didn't know exactly what was 2in there and i felt like i wanted to get it to the right person, so i stood there and waited. i held them out, waiting for someone to turn around, and no one ever came back. i waited for 30 minutes, and no

one ever came back. >> and connecting with the person whose money it is, it wasn't particularly straightforward, from what i understand. we have the statement from the mccaran international airport. "we appreciate mr. gilbert's honesty, and willingness to set a great example for others." you pointed out it wasn't the easiest of efforts to track down the owner. >> no, it was actually against the rules. i called the first time, and they said, "we can't put third parties together. we just don't do that." i go, "you don't understand. this is a large sum of money and i convinced the woman if it was hers she would definitely want her money back and she looked through the log and the first time i called she said there was no lost money reports of $600. i said that's not it. can i leave my name and number and get in touch with me if

someone calls in. they said we can't do that. i was astounded. so i said that's fine, i'll just call you next week, and so the money was -- i found it december 6th, and it actually wasn't until december, whatever thursday was, i think the 22nd, that i called, and convinced the woman again, and she kind of remembered me, and that's when the man, the gentleman had reported that it was missing, and we were able to put it together. and she did help us, yes. >> mitch gilbert joining us from denver we appreciate it. thank you so much and you are indeed a saint. thank you. >> thank you. thank you. well, newt gingrich is talking to our own wolf blitzer. "the situation room" is come in up in a few minutes. wolf blitzer joins me live from iowa. wolf, good to see you. what can we expect? >> we're going to have the former speaker of the house, the republican presidential

candidate in dubuque, iowa, we'll talk about the campaign, talk about politics, talk about some substantive issues out there, domestic issues, economic issues, jobs, national security-related matters, a wide-ranging interview with the republican presidential front-runner, newt gingrich. he'll join us live this coming hour in "the situation room." tomorrow we'll have an interview with mitt romney here in iowa as well. so we're one week away, isha, so the stakes are enormous right now. >> a lot of big news to come. wolf we look forward to it. we'll take a quick break. stay with us. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro.

ron paul hopes to get his campaign cooking in iowa. he's given out free familys recipes at all of his events. joe johns, as you may know, i like to eat so let's focus in on this one. tell us about this. >> reporter: yes. well you know, it's sort of a down-home way to get close to your constituent or your voters' kitchen table as it were. this is ron paul's cookbook, it's his wife, carol's cookbook. they put this out every single year. they've been selling it for, what, i think about eight bucks plus shaipping and handling, wht have you. we actually reported on this a couple weeks ago, they're actually handing things out at

some of these events. 24 pages, not real long, just a handful of recipes but the whole idea is to sort of maybe raise a little money, but also raise a consciousness of the people that ron paul wants to eventually vote for him, isha. >> i see some of the recipes, king ron's kitchen, chocolate chip cookies. rick santorum is also there in iowa. he went hunting yesterday, we saw him in his orange get-up, but did his teenage son upstage his dad? i'm hearing some rumblings. >> reporter: yeah, that's definitely true. also first i think you have to say just because this is political reporting we're doing out here, this was an event that was pretty much focused on the nra crowd, that would be the hunters, the sportsmen, what have you, in iowa, and this is rick santorum going out with a shotgun, going out with his son who just got a shotgun for christmas and they bagged a little game, in fact. i think wha